


Long Enough

by Lightbulbs



Category: Reckoners - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Don't copy to another site, Gen, Spoilers for Firefight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-15 21:27:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17536586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lightbulbs/pseuds/Lightbulbs
Summary: "Megan felt a sense of dread smothering her, almost to the point of paralysis. David was in trouble. Dear, sweet, stupid David."[Set near the end of Firefight]





	Long Enough

Megan felt a sense of dread smothering her, almost to the point of paralysis. David was in trouble. Dear, sweet, stupid David. Someone who had irritated her beyond all reason, but who had somehow become a fixture of her life.

She shook her head. She needed to focus. To save him. That’s what an Epic _should_ do, if Abraham’s foolish beliefs were anything to go by. And yet, despite her desperate desires, she stood stock still.

She was even _more_ terrified of the burning building just across from her.

David was inside. There she stood, totally capable of saving him, if only she could move…

The sharp, acrid scent of burning metal, smoldering insulation, and chemical-treated wood smoke made her cough. Her head spun.

Memories warred in her head. The jagged, painful one where she crawled out of ash and glowing charcoal, and the sweet, soft haze of time spent with David. Could she really let him die? For her weakness? For her fear?

Something inside her galvanized. Her heart clenched. With a shaky breath, she settled her nerves and dashed inside the building. “David! David!” she cried, looking for him amidst the endlessly drifting smoke.

Instead she found Prof, his tall, imposing form all the more intimidating. She could see down the barrel of his gun.

He shifted his aim. He shot.

The force of the impact slammed into her, first as a sense of pressure, then as blinding pain. She went down, hitting the concrete floor. Her leg was a mangled mess of tendons and pulverized bone, slick with her rapidly draining blood. She felt faint.

Prof stepped forward, his shadow a dark cloak draping over her. Pulling back, she grasped for her weapon even as her vision blurred around the edges. Prof leaned down and grabbed her gun, holstering it.

She sucked in a breath, trying to dispel the sinking realization that he was about to kill her. That she would lose herself, again. That David being there was a lie. She felt angry tears burning behind her closed eyes.

But the blow never came. Instead, she felt a taut pressure around her leg. The chill overtaking her body seemed to slow, and she realized that Prof had applied a tourniquet.

“Why…?” she asked, surprised by the whisper-thin weakness of her voice. He didn’t reply at first, his gaunt face set in a grim line. Then he stood, looking down at her.

“I need you to live long enough.”

And with those words, he left, walking through a burning door as Megan realized just how close the fire was creeping.


End file.
